Truth or Dare Read online

  Text copyright © 2018 Anne Conley

  All Rights Reserved in accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher or author constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from this book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of author’s rights.

  FBI Anti-Piracy Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of a copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to five years in federal prison along with a fine of $250,000.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover photography: Jeffrey Todd

  Cover Model: Stanley Fields

  Cover designer: James Price; AEP Bookcovers

  Editor: Tiffany Fox; Beyond DEF

  Interior Layout: Deena Rae Schoenfeldt; E-Book Builders for Beyond DEF

  Table of Contents

  Books by Anne

  Truth or Dare

  Dedication

  Acknowledgements

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Epilogue

  Looking Forward

  About Anne

  Anne’s Series

  Books by Anne

  Playing With Fire:

  Truth or Dare

  Hide and Seek

  Spin the Bottle

  Hot Lava

  Pierce Securities:

  Craze

  Wire

  Click

  Grab

  Murmur

  Bond

  Seek

  Hitch

  Echo

  Pierce Securities: Aces Press Publications

  Mae Day (Re-release 2019)

  Redemption for Misty (Re-release 2019)

  Book B!tches:

  Power of Love

  Loving the Enemy (Historical)

  Master of Love

  Hunt for Love (Coming Soon)

  Fostering Love (Coming Soon)

  Will to Love (Coming Soon)

  Love’s Ward (Coming Soon)

  Stories of Serendipity:

  Neighborly Complications

  Chef’s Delight

  Dream On

  Hot Mess

  Falling for Him

  Gambling on Love

  My Mistake

  Wrecked

  Saving Charlie

  Four Winds:

  Falling for Heaven

  Falling for Grace

  Falling for Hope

  Falling for Faith

  Falling for Cyn

  Falling for Eternity (Complete Four Winds Box Set)

  Stand Alones:

  Best Laid Plans of Boys and Men

  The Fixer Upper

  MeetCute: Fortune’s Kiss

  Truth or Dare

  When a child’s game goes delightfully wrong, Jude finds himself rethinking his current status quo. Jude finds himself strangely looking to Annette to make sense of his own life.

  Annette is trying not to get distracted by the sexy firefighter, but when her artistic retreat begins in disaster, Jude’s playing the hero she can’t ignore. Suddenly, her artwork is completely changed with Jude’s exquisite lines transforming her landscapes.

  Up until now, their life was like a notebook full of doodles, but it’s turning into a full-fledged art showing, and neither of them know how to deal with the embers of desire when they ignite into flames.

  Dedication

  To first responders everywhere.

  There is not enough coffee for what you guys do.

  Acknowledgements

  First off, I’d like to thank Tiffany, for putting up with me through the process of brainstorming this book, its marketing plan, etc., ad nauseum. I’m sure she got sick of my phone calls about these firefighters by the time it was over, but she never failed to talk me off my cliffs. For that, I am eternally grateful.

  Thanks go to Deena Rae, for her enthusiasm for yet another project with me.

  To Cheryl, for picking out my flaws.

  To LJ, for being the sounding board, the beta reader, the cheerleader, the newsletter getter-outter (totally made-up word, don’t care), the poster, the everything I could need from a PA. Thank you so much.

  To LeTeisha, for being my CP, and reading my stuff when she didn’t really have to. And talking me off more cliffs. I was ready to give up on this series, at one point, and she made me stick with it.

  To The Conley Corner, for repeatedly making me laugh and giving me the encouragement I needed.

  To the ladies at Inkslinger, the bloggers, the bookstagrammers, and the individuals who got the word out about my books.

  To my family, for giving me the time to work and for putting up with my Diva shit.

  And finally, the readers. You guys are amazing and inspire me every day to write more stories. Thank you.

  Chapter One

  Jude’s gaze zeroed in on the woman in the corner of the bar in an attempt to ignore his friend’s girlfriend who was currently trying to engage him.

  She stared at her margarita, the frozen drink just as out of place in the cactus-shaped glass in this salt-of-the-earth bar as she seemed. Everyone else in this bar were regulars of some sort, and she was far from the regular clientele. She was more suited to one of the more upscale places in town designed for tourists, not the locals.

  The woman clearly wasn’t from around here. Untouched by the harsh weather of the mountainside, she looked like she came from a place where the sun shone from a big sky. Certainly not someplace the sun was blotted out by the side of a mountain most of the time.

  She appeared fresh-faced and innocent in her green wrap dress that fit her figure. The scarf draped tightly around her neck looked like it provided warmth. That was more evidence she wasn’t from around here. It was warm, compared to how it would feel in a month or two.

  “Truth or dare, Jude?” Simone’s eyes sparkled as she looked across the table at Jude. He didn’t even try to hide the groan. Jude had known Simone his entire life, and now, looking at her in her designer fucking shoes and shit, he couldn’t for the life of him understand why she was here. Simone was the type of girl who was never single, and her man always gave her something. Yeah, she led them around by the dick and was so good at it, they gave her the world. The guys she dated typically had money, a fuck-ton of it, and he couldn’t fathom why she was with his buddy Joey, unless she wanted to suddenly take a walk on the wild side, Pole Bunny style.

 
Jude looked to Joey for help. “Seriously? Tell her, man. I don’t do games.”

  Joey’s face turned a disgusting mask of goo-goo when he looked at Simone, and Jude knew it was pointless. Dude was pussy-whipped to the nth degree with this chick.

  “Pick someone else.” Jude gestured to the table of people she could tease. Besides him and Joey, Logan and Zane were there too, and they were single as well. Why couldn’t she pick on them?

  “I want to play with you, Jude,” she whined. Jude looked to Zane for help, but he was studiously ignoring them, focused on drinking and watching the bar. Logan wasn’t helping either. He ignored them all, a thunderous look on his face.

  In fact, Simone was the only woman crashing guys’ night, and it sort of pissed Jude off. They used these times to decompress after a scene. Her presence wasn’t helping with that, especially if she wanted to play games.

  “Truth,” Jude muttered, watching her sit up eagerly, her eyes turning mischievous in a heartbeat.

  “Why won’t you go out with Everly again? You know she really wants to.” Simone wanted him to spill secrets he wasn’t willing to share with her. She was besties with his ex, and he wasn’t about to tell her he’d wanted to get deeper with Everly—to see if she was “the one”—until Everly had made him a fucking project.

  Jude pushed his chair back. “No way. This is stupid.” They were together two months, and Everly had tried to get him to meet her parents, start wearing khaki pants, and quit his job at the firehouse. That wasn’t even taking into account the god-awful neon-yellow “snow-boarding” suit she’d bought him. He shuddered.

  “I’m not getting into that with you, Simone. You should really know better.”

  Before she could go on, Katie, a gorgeous woman with bright-red curls and a super-tight dress walked by and ran her fingers over Logan’s shoulders. Logan jumped in his seat, spilling his drink in his lap, which had him cussing up a storm. Thankful for the shift in focus from him, Jude laughed as Katie grabbed a handful of napkins and started trying to clean up the liquor spilled all over his lap.

  “It’s fine,” Logan practically growled at her.

  “I’m really sorry, Logan,” Katie purred, still patting his crotch gently. Logan stilled her hands, his jaw clenched and temple ticking.

  “Let. It. Go.”

  Jude had been watching the two-step between these two for over a year and wondered why Logan didn’t give in to the fiery redhead and fuck her like she clearly wanted him to. But Logan wasn’t one to go for the Pole Bunnies, as they liked to call the women who were after the firefighters just because they were firefighters.

  Jude had known Katie a long time, and she wasn’t one to go after all the firemen. She just seemed to want Logan. She was a nice girl, raising her little brother in their parents’ absence, and there was something between the two of them, whether Logan would admit it or not.

  “It’s a game. Come on. If you don’t do the truth, you have to take the dare.” Simone crossed her arms in front of her chest in a self-satisfied manner, drawing Jude’s attention back to her. Fucking Everly. He wished he’d never started anything romantic with her, and the blame would be forever firmly placed on Simone for being her partner in manipulative crime.

  “Then give me the fucking dare. I’m not getting into Everly with you to go back and tell her everything I said.” He took a sip of his whiskey and let the fiery liquid wash away the burn in his gut every time he thought of his ex. He hated that his feelings toward Everly had gone this way. Deep down, Everly was a good person, just not good girlfriend material. Not for him, anyway.

  “Okay.” She pursed her lips in thought and looked around. Seeing something she liked, Simone smiled a devilish grin. “I dare you to kiss any woman in this bar.”

  Jude took a glance around the room, trying to see what had made her smile. Fucking Everly was standing at the bar, watching him.

  Right. Like he was going to kiss her on a fucking dare. Joey was muffling a laugh behind his hand, and not for the first time, he questioned his friend’s judgement for ever hooking up with Simone.

  Turning back to Simone, he growled, “I’m not twelve years old. This is stupid.” Logan had extracted himself from Katie and excused himself to go to the restroom with a huge wet patch on his groin, so Jude looked to Zane for support.

  “There are other women here, dude. You don’t have to kiss Everly.” Zane was leaning back in his seat, one foot crossed over his knee at the ankle, the perfect pose of relaxed masculinity. If he did this dare, he’d come up with something to make the dude wholly uncomfortable just because they encouraged this stupid childish game.

  “Come on, man,” Joey chuckled. “Just do it.”

  Jude’s eyes roamed the dimly lit bar once more as he got ready to just go home. If this was what the company he was with was going to act like, he could just drink whiskey at home.

  His eyes fell back to the stunning blonde sitting at a table in the corner, sipping her margarita. She wore a green sweater dress and black boots and had her hair pulled back in a side braid, begging to be wrapped around his hand, soft tendrils framing her face. But what struck Jude was her mouth. It was wide and full and totally kissable.

  As he watched her, the woman’s eyes flitted around the bar and landed on him, widening slightly. Grinning, Jude tossed the rest of his drink back and slid out of his chair.

  “I’m on it.”

  He heard Zane mutter something about getting it, but Jude didn’t pay any attention. He was a man on a mission. Everly was watching, and Simone would hopefully get out of their business if he could show them another woman would do just as well.

  Jude moved closer, and she fidgeted in her seat, as if she knew she was prey in his sites. Her dress accentuated every curve on her exquisite body, and the closer he got, Jude saw freckles smattered across her nose. She definitely came from big sky country. Montana maybe, or Texas. It lent the sophisticated woman an air of innocence, and his cock hardened as he stopped in front of her.

  Maybe she would do even better than just a kiss.

  “Hi,” he began. “I have a favor to ask.”

  She raised her eyebrows and smiled vaguely, exposing a tiny gap in her teeth which only made her more attractive with the tiny imperfection.

  “I’m here with my friends, and one of their girlfriends is trying to mess with me. I was about to leave when she dared me to kiss a woman here. And then I saw you.” Her brows furrowed in confusion, but he saw the pulse in her neck pick up speed. When she absently licked her lips, he sat next to her. “Let me kiss you to get them off my back, then I’ll buy you a drink and walk away.”

  She took a deep breath but didn’t say anything. Her eyes searched his face, landing on his lips, then going back to his eyes, probably gauging his honesty.

  “I promise I’m not playing with you. Look over there.”

  Jude turned his head to follow her eyes as she looked over his shoulder at his friends. Joey raised his drink with a goofy smile on his face, and Simone narrowed her eyes on a huff. Zane just watched over the rim of his drink, a twinkle in his eyes. Logan was still nowhere to be found. Jude sighed.

  “See?” He turned back to her to find her watching him intently. “So … what do you say? May I kiss you? You don’t have to see me again, promise.” It occurred to him maybe that was a deal breaker for her, but he wasn’t really willing to make promises he didn’t plan on keeping just for a stupid game.

  But as he watched her decide, he got a little lost in her green eyes, the color of frosty sage leaves after a morning dew. “You have gorgeous eyes. I bet men tell you that all the time.”

  She snapped out of her trance. “Thank you. Yes.” Her voice was low and husky, sending a shock of lust straight to his balls.

  He rested his hand on her leg, the desire to touch those soft curves overriding all co
mmon sense. “Yes, what? Guys say that a lot?”

  Her smile widened, and Jude lost all the air in his lungs. God, she was breathtaking. “Yes, you can kiss me.”

  Jude smiled and scooted his chair closer to her. He was about to kiss a random stranger in a bar on a dare, but as he gripped her braid and brought her face closer to his, he didn’t give a flying fuck. He wanted to taste those glistening lips. STAT.

  He closed his eyes as he brushed his lips across hers, and then sensations took over everything. Warmth, softness, her subtle floral scent, her fingers trailing up his chest and winding around his neck, the tiny gasp she expelled. Something foreign and totally feral welled up inside him and roared approval.

  More.

  Jude nipped at her top lip, willing her to grant him admittance. She hesitated, but he moved his hand around to grip the nape of her neck and tilted her head. Sliding his other hand to her back to pull her into his arms, she finally relaxed, opening her mouth on a soft sigh.

  It was as if he’d been granted entrance to heaven. Jude deepened the kiss, the untamed beast inside him purring its triumph. He hauled her closer, feeling the press of her nipples against his chest. This kiss was quickly changing everything he’d ever known about kissing. She branded him with a searing heat that sent a shock of pure, unadulterated lust straight to his balls.

  Her hot little tongue was rocking his world, sending Jude to places he’d never been as he completely lost track of his surroundings. Her fingers were twined in the hair at the base of his neck, tugging on it, sending sharp needles of sensation coursing through his veins.

  He let out a noise from the back of his throat that sounded an awful lot like a possessive growl. He wanted this woman naked. Yesterday.

  Breaking the kiss, he leaned his forehead on hers, desperate to regain a semblance of reality. As he looked into her eyes, he noticed she looked every bit as undone as he felt.

  “What’s your name?” His voice was unrecognizable to himself, hoarse and gritty, and he swallowed the thick bundle of desire lodged in his throat.